Your car’s data has a price, and General Motors has just paid a large one. GM has agreed to pay $220 million to settle allegations from 36 state-level jurisdictions that it improperly shared drivers’ behavioural and location information with data brokers, according to PYMNTS, which reported the announcement on 29 October.
What GM was accused of sharing
The controversy centres on driving information collected through GM’s Smart Driver programme and subsequently shared with data brokers, including companies that supplied information to insurers, PYMNTS reports. The concern was that information collected through a consumer-facing service could ultimately influence financial decisions affecting those same consumers — such as insurance pricing — without drivers fully understanding the chain. The settlement shows how connectivity can create liabilities that outlast the revenue those arrangements generate.
Ford moves first to reassure drivers
Following the news of the settlement, Ford Motor Company introduced a new Privacy Promise on Monday 2 November, pledging not to sell customers’ driving-behaviour data to brokers and providing clearer information about how vehicle data is collected, used and controlled, PYMNTS reports. It is a direct competitive response: with one major maker paying $220 million, a public promise not to sell driving data becomes a selling point in its own right.
What drivers should check
Connected vehicles, industrial equipment and warehouse devices today generate continuous streams of behavioural, operational and location data, and the economics of that data are now under scrutiny well beyond cars. For drivers, the practical step is to open the privacy settings in your car’s app or infotainment system and check what data-sharing options are switched on by default — particularly any programme with “driver”, “smart” or “insights” in its name — and to opt out of broker sharing where the option exists.
